March | 2009 | Liberal Conspiracy

Britons much more liberal towards abortion

by Newswire March 30, 2009 at 3:21 am

British voters are more likely than Americans to consider themselves pro-choice on abortion, but both countries have roughly the same attitudes towards same sex marriages, a new transatlantic PoliticsHome study reveals.

Voters in each country were polled on their attitudes towards abortion and same sex marriage.

67% of UK voters considered themselves pro-choice, compared to only 52% of Americans.

In the UK, attitudes on abortion were consistent across political divides, with a proportion of roughly two thirds thinking of themselves as pro choice throughout the political spectrum.

… more at Politics Home

4 Comments ¦ 30th March

New book: ‘The Crash’

by Jon Cruddas MP March 30, 2009 at 3:09 am

The waves of public anger against the bankers surge back and forth without political expression. The media scapegoat Fred Goodwin and reduce the crisis to the problem of few greedy bankers. Fear and the loss of trust are not confined to the markets.

The recession has destroyed the compact between the market and the individual which provided the social cement for the neo-liberal order. The government has no alternative set of values or social politics to replace it with.

For a brief period, history is in the public realm and ours for the making. The opportunity will not come again for generations, but the Left needs to rediscover our capacity for collective change. The political fault lines of a new era are starting to take shape. They divide those who believe that privileging the market and individual self-interest is the best way to govern society and those who believe that democracy and society must come before markets.

These fault lines cut across party lines and divide them from within: Thatcherite politics versus elements in the New Conservatism; market Liberal Democrats versus social Liberal Democrats; neo-liberal New Labour versus social democratic Labour.

In our new ebook The Crash – a View from the Left we argue for a politics of democracy and the social. We need a new socialism not dictated by the few from above, but made by the many from below. It will have a number of broad but defining principles. It will be grounded in the interdependency of individuals and the value of equality. It will be democratic, because only the active interest and participation of individuals can guarantee true freedom and progress.

It will be ecologically sustainable and pursue economic development within the constraints placed on us by the earth. And it will be pluralist, because we need a diverse range of political institutions, and a variety of forms of economic ownership and cultural identities, to provide the energy and inventiveness to create a good society.

Its task is not to win the political centre ground – it is gridlocked and dead – but to transform it and embark on the deep and long transformation that will bring about a good society.

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Contributors: Jon Cruddas, Clive Dilnot, Bryan Gould, John Grahl, Colin Hines, Adam Leaver, Toby Lloyd, Lindsay Mackie, Robin Maynard, Richard Murphy, Carlota Perez, Ann Pettifor, Michael Prior, Jonathan Rutherford, Göran Therborn.

2 Comments ¦ 30th March

Incoherent Cohen launches into tirade against entire media

by Newswire March 29, 2009 at 11:15 pm

From the George Orwell Awards discussion last week.

43 Comments ¦ 29th March

Jade Goody, Russell Brand & the media

by David Semple March 29, 2009 at 1:53 pm

Some say blog posts complaining about Jade Goody coverage apparently vindicate and perpetuate the rather nauseating circus. I think such logic is bollocks, of course, because the mainstream media – TV, radio, newspapers, blogs belonging to all the aforementioned and others – would have merrily continued to spout crap regardless of what a few poxy political bloggers decided to say.

Why bother writing about it then? These are good questions, and the answer is that not five minutes ago, I spotted a ridiculous article on the BBC website titled, Star dubs Jade ‘Primark Princess’, and then made the mistake of reading it. Thankfully we don’t allow firearms in this country or I reckon I’d feel compelled to hunt down Russell Brand and kill him, earning myself a British Comedy Award for services rendered.
continue reading… »

16 Comments ¦ 29th March

Gordon Brown: the market’s verdict

by Chris Dillow March 28, 2009 at 3:21 pm

I’ll not pick apart everything Dan Hannan said in that speech. But there’s one point to question. He said:

Britain is worse off than any other country as we go into these hard times. The IMF has said so. The European Commission has said so. The markets have said so, which is why our currency has devalued by 30%.

But not all markets have said this. The stock market hasn’t.
continue reading… »

9 Comments ¦ 28th March

Where do our liberties go from here?

by Anthony Barnett March 28, 2009 at 10:44 am

I’ve never been part of anything that got so many congratulatory messages than the Convention on Modern Liberty, and enquiries about what next and “how do we turn the energy into action?” So, how do we?

Jack Straw in his sniffy Guardian article said, “My very good constituency office files show no recent correspondence relating to fears about the creation in Britain of a ‘police state’ or a ‘surveillance society’”. Can we answer Straw by taking the energy of the Convention to the country?
continue reading… »

75 Comments ¦ 28th March

Ugly journalist bemoans lack of bikini-clad politicians

by Guest March 27, 2009 at 9:39 pm

This is a guest post by Zoe

The Daily Mail’s Quentin Letts in juvenile sexism shocker.
Update: Claude chips in by reviewing the Daily Mail boys.